SM U-53 was a German Type Mittel U

German Type Mittel U submarine

Mittel U was a class of U-boats built during World War I by the Kaiserliche Marine.Mittel U U-boats carried 16 torpedoes and had various arrangements of deck guns. Some had only one 88mm gun while others had a single 105mm gun - but most had both originally...

 U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 of the Kaiserliche Marine

Kaiserliche Marine

The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...

 during the First World War, one of the six forming the sub type 51.

Construction and commissioning

U-53 was ordered from Germaniawerft

Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft

Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft was a German shipbuilding company, located in the harbour at Kiel, and one of the largest and most important builders of U-boats for the Kaiserliche Marine in World War I and the Kriegsmarine in World War II.-History:The company was founded in 1867 by Lloyd Foster, as...

, Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

 in 1914 and launched in 1916. She was commissioned under her first commander Hans Rose

Hans Rose

Lieutenant Commander Hans Rose was one of the most successful and highly decorated German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during .Rose was one of the most respected and brave U-boat commanders and famous for his humanity and fairness in battle...

 in 1916.

Service with the Kaiserliche Marine

Rose became the 5th ranked German submarine ace of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 sinking and 79 merchant ships for a total of 213,987 tons. Rose's first patrol with U-53 was to Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

. His mission had been to sink any British warships in position to ambush the merchant submarine Bremen

German submarine Bremen

Bremen was a blockade-breaking German merchant submarine of World War I. Developed with private funds and operated by the North German Lloyd Line, she was one of the first of seven U-151 class U-boats built and one of only two used as unarmed cargo submarines....

; but he heard a radio broadcast on 28 September 1916 indicating Bremen had been sunk. U-53 entered Newport harbor on the morning of 7 October 1916. Rose paid courtesy visits to Rear Admiral Austin M. Knight

Austin M. Knight

Austin Melvin Knight was an admiral in the United States Navy. He was commander in chief of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet from 1917 to 1918...

, Commandant of the United States Second Naval District, and Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves

Albert Gleaves

Albert Gleaves was an admiral in the United States Navy, also notable as a naval historian.-Biography:...

 aboard the cruiser ; and then received courtesy visits from both admirals aboard U-53. Admiral Gleaves brought his wife and daughter to visit U-53. It took the neutral American government about two hours to decide how to handle this surprise visit. When the harbor master started talking about quarantine regulations, Rose returned to sea to avoid being interned.

U-53 commenced military operations the next morning two miles off the Lightship Nantucket

Lightship Nantucket

The Lightship Nantucket station was the name given to the lightvessel which marked the hazardous Nantucket Shoals in Massachusetts. Several ships have been commissioned and served at the Nantucket Shoals lightship station and have been called Nantucket...

. The American steamer was stopped by a shot across the bow at 0535, and then released when examination of her papers revealed no contraband cargo. A large passenger liner was allowed to pass at 0600 because Rose felt unable to provide for the safety of a large number of passengers. The 4,321-ton British steamer Strathdene was stopped at 0653 and torpedoed at 0743 after the crew had abandoned ship. The 3,878-ton Norwegian steamer Christian Knutsen with a cargo of diesel oil for London was stopped at 0803 and torpedoed at 0953 after the crew had abandoned ship. The 3,847-ton steamer West Point was stopped at 1130 and sunk by explosive charges after the crew had abandoned ship.

Seventeen American destroyers were dispatched from Newport to search for survivors in response to the Nantucket lightship's reports of sinkings. The destroyers arrived about 1700 as U-53 stopped the Dutch steamer Blommersdyk bound for England with contraband cargo. The 3,449-ton British passenger liner Stephano was stopped and the gathering American destroyers took off its crew and passengers. Rose used his last torpedoes to sink Blommersdyk at 1950 and Stephano at 2230. Rose set a homeward course via the Gulf Stream

Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean...

 and evaded three British destroyers sent from Canada to intercept him.

Political Ramifications from Trip

There was a great deal of anger amongst the Allied powers after the visit of U-53 to the American port and the subsequent sinking of Allied shipping. While all of the sinkings were done according Prize Court laws and nobody was killed during them, the attacks instilled fear in the British because of the reach of the German U-boats, and the United States because these attacks occurred so close to American shores.
The British were further outraged that most of the attacks occurred while the submarine was surrounded by American destroyers. After a soothing speech by Sir Edward Gray, these complaints were calmed when he pointed out that the American ships had no legal right to interfere with these attacks and had done all they could to rescue the sailors in the water. German newspapers celebrated the trip as a great demonstration of the reach of the German Navy and Captain Rose was praised for his actions.

Career after voyage

Rose was relieved by von Schrader in 1918. The sub operated primarily with in the English Channel after this, attacking Allied and neutral vessels. Von Schrader sank ten more ships of 1,782 tons with U-53 before the armistice

Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)

The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...

 on 11 November.

External links

• Photos of cruises of German submarine U-54 in 1916-1918. Great photo quality, comments in German.
• A 44 min. film from 1917 about a cruise of the German submarine U-35. A German propaganda film without dead or wounded; many details about submarine warfare in World War I.
• Uboat.net: More detailed information about U-53.
• Room 40: original documents, photos and maps about World War I German submarine warfare and British Room 40
  Room 40
  In the history of Cryptanalysis, Room 40 was the section in the Admiralty most identified with the British cryptoanalysis effort during the First World War.Room 40 was formed in October 1914, shortly after the start of the war...
  
   Intelligence from The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, UK.
• National Maritime Museum webpage - Portrait of Commander Rose on the deck of U-53 in the collection of the National Maritime Museum
  National Maritime Museum
  The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...